Notebooks Remain Best Business Productivity Choice, for Now - Slide 6

One aspect of the notebook that we tend to underestimate is its versatility in terms of support for peripherals and external devices. This ranges from the simple keyboard and mouse, to peripherals such as a printer, external soundcard and data storage devices.

Indeed, notebooks can even support external graphics adapters by means of USB-based DisplayLink adapters, as well as all kinds of expansion cards connected via the ExpressCard slot. On the other hand, there are very few peripherals available to a tablet or smartphone device beyond what the manufacturer offers.

Looking to ditch your notebook in favor of a tablet or even a smartphone? The late Steve Jobs famously spoke of a "post-PC" era when unveiling the iPad 2 early last year. Yet in spite of the tablets and smartphones that many of us own, reaching for our notebook is probably still a regular occurrence for most of us.